


four teaspoons (and a shot of raspberry)

by helios_ (neocitz)



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-02
Updated: 2018-05-02
Packaged: 2019-05-01 01:39:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14509689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neocitz/pseuds/helios_
Summary: Every day, Taeyong comes into Johnny's cafe and buys a soy cappuccino with an outrageous amount of sugar.Until he doesn't.





	four teaspoons (and a shot of raspberry)

**Author's Note:**

> 'day' one -- Coffee Shop AU
> 
> un-beta'd

It’s day fifteen, and Johnny’s starting to get concerned.

‘Four teaspoons of sugar?’ he asks, _again_.

‘And a shot of raspberry,’ the regular says, tipping his chin up in challenge.

‘That’ll be four dollars thirty.’ Johnny scribbles the order on the side of the cup even though he doesn’t need to. Ten is standing at the coffee machine with horror painting his face, looking at the boy in front of them. ‘What’s the name for the order?’

He already knows it, after three weeks of pure sugar and caffeine being funnelled into the boy courtesy of Johnny and Ten.

‘Taeyong.’ He hands over a note, chin still jutting out in defiance, and Johnny takes it from Taeyong with a pained smile.

‘Won’t be a minute,’ Johnny says, ringing up the order. ‘Have a seat and I’ll bring it out to you.’

Taeyong nods and he weaves through the tables to settle at a bench at the window. It’s where he’s been sitting for the past few weeks, sunlight streaming through just enough to warm skin and far enough from the counter that he doesn’t have to hear the chatter of customers coming through the entry.

‘This can’t be healthy,’ Ten mutters, too low for Taeyong to hear. ‘Should we cut him off before his teeth fall out?’

‘I don’t want to risk it,’ Johnny admits, because as gorgeous as he is, Taeyong looks a hot minute away from a breakdown.

He always rocks up at about three thirty, with a massive bag tucked into his side and headphones hanging around his neck that he puts on as soon as he sits down. They must be noise-cancelling because Johnny always has to tap him on the elbow to get his attention when he brings the coffee over.

The one time he didn’t, Taeyong ignored the drink for forty minutes before downing it in one go.

Johnny’s fairly sure that Taeyong is studying, because he’s nearly always bent over his laptop tapping away about something or another, and the exhaustion is etched deep under his eyes in dark bags.

‘He needs to get his life together,’ Ten complains as he starts on the coffee, spooning the sugar in with a cringe. ‘I know we sell it for a pitiful, pitiful living but coffee is not the solution to his problems.’

‘He’s a student, coffee is the solution to everything,’ Johnny corrects. ‘Don’t think I haven’t seen you take three shots of espresso during exam period.’

‘Just take the drink over to him and try to get him to smile at you,’ Ten scowls, shoving the cup forward. Johnny takes it with a snort, playing off the fact that he would very much like Taeyong to smile at him. It’s been fifteen days and the closest he’s gotten has been an exhausted grimace. It’s not that Johnny needs every customer to be nice to him, except he kind of does.

‘One soy cappuccino with four teaspoons of sugar and a shot of raspberry,’ Johnny says, sliding the drink in front of Taeyong who looks up from his notes with a slight squint. Johnny grins broadly at him, hoping that it would entice at least the lift of lips in the corner of his mouth.

‘Thanks,’ his eyes dip down, ‘Johnny.’

‘No problem,’ Johnny says, trying to keep the disappointment out of his voice. It’s been three weeks, and Taeyong still needs Johnny’s name-tag.

‘He _hates_ you,’ Ten cackles, leaning over the counter. ‘That was _cold.’_

 _‘_ Shut up,’ Johnny pushes Ten away, the shorter boy dropping back down from the counter. He can’t deny the words, not when Taeyong seems to do everything in his power not to want to talk to Johnny.

‘I mean, come on,’ Ten says, gesturing to where Taeyong’s fingers are flying across his keyboard. ‘Boys like him don’t like boys like you.’

It’s true.

Johnny’s got pride in what he wears, yeah, but he’s a man of comfortable jeans, tucked in shirts and cardigans.

Despite the fact that he’s obviously overworked to the bone, Taeyong always turns up to the café looking like he’s something of a magazine photo shoot. His faded red hair is styled up and away from his face, and he sips his coffee-sugar-concoction as if were an actor advertising it. He’s untouchable, the sort of boy who runs on stress and caffeine and somehow makes it look easy. Johnny’s no doubt that Taeyong is _going places_.

‘Don’t worry,’ Ten says as Johnny wipes down the counter next to him. ‘We’ll find you a nice boy, one day.’

 

 

A week later, it goes to shit.

‘No, no don’t worry,’ he grits his face through the pain of the coffee down his front. ‘We wear black shirts for a reason.’ He tries to joke, but really his chest is burning and he needs to change as soon as possible. Taeyong’s standing in front of him and his face is ghost pale, fixed on Johnny’s torso.

It’s rare for Taeyong to get up once he’s settled down in his little corner, so Johnny hadn’t been paying attention when he brought today’s mix of sugar and coffee over. He hadn’t been looking as Taeyong stood up, and Taeyong had knocked into him with enough force to spill the coffee all over Johnny.

‘I’m so, so sorry,’ Taeyong gasps out and he follows Johnny back to the counter to try and dab at the stain. ‘I should have paid more attention to my surroundings.’

‘It’s fine, really,’ Johnny pulls at the front of his shirt so it’s not stuck to his front any more. ‘I’ve got a spare in the back, I’ll just go change. Ten’ll make you a new coffee.’

‘Are you _sure_ you’re okay?’ Taeyong says, and his usually sharp eyes are wide and shaking.

In the month they’ve been serving Taeyong, he’s always managed to settle right on the edge of too-stressed. Johnny has no doubt that Taeyong’s one of those people who thrives under high pressure situations, but this is the first time Johnny’s seen him at a point where he looks like he could break.

‘I’m okay,’ he says, keeping his voice level, and he smiles down at Taeyong. He’s still tugging at his shirt, hating the feeling off the wet material against his skin. ‘I should have been paying attention as well.’

He waves off a few more protests from Taeyong before heading into the back room of the café. The door’s barely closing when he stripes out of his shirt, wiping as much of the coffee off as he can. The other shirt he’s got is a little small, it’s left over from when Jaehyun used to work at the café, but it’ll have to do under the circumstances.

It doesn’t take long to wash off the coffee and bundle his dirty shirt up in a bag. He doesn’t think he’s burnt anything, skin not too hot under his hand, so Johnny only half-asses the first aid he applies to himself. It’s a struggle to get Jaehyun’s shirt on (because Jaehyun, for some reason, likes to wear tight shirts as is) but he manages it before backing out into the café again.

‘So,’ Ten says, perched on the counter and grinning at Johnny as Johnny reties the apron around his waist. ‘Good news is that Taeyong got a glimpse of you stripping before the door closed. Bad news is that he did a runner and he’s left.’

Johnny looks around, at the corner that Taeyong had claimed as his own. There’s nothing left there, seat perfectly tucked in and a newspaper folded in half.

‘Oh,’ he sighs.

 

 

Johnny doesn’t realise he’s hoping for Taeyong to come back until it’s been a week and a half and Taeyong hasn’t come back.

Ten starts with snarky comments, giggling at the way Johnny’s attention jumps to the door when it opens. But it soon fades in to worry, and he stops Johnny in the middle of making a hot chocolate to tell him.

‘He’s just one boy,’ Ten murmurs, dark eyes intense and serious as they look up at him. ‘Just one boy who wasn’t even that nice to you.’

‘I know,’ Johnny sighs, frustrated, as he frothes the milk. ‘I don’t even know why I’m so disappointed, he didn’t even know my name.’

‘He was pretty, and smart, and mysterious. You’ve always been a sucker for those three traits,’ Ten takes the milk from him because Johnny hasn’t been lowering the jug and he’s going to burn it with his inattention. ‘You _wanted_ him to like you because he didn’t seem to.’

‘Makes me sound pathetic when you put it like that.’

‘A little bit, but I’m used to it,’ Ten laughs, and he nudges Johnny. ‘You’re worth more than this, remember that.’

 

 

It’s nine o’clock at night when Johnny leaves the library.

He’s got his earbuds in and he’s skateboarding back towards his apartment, backpack hanging loose on his shoulders. It’s almost too dark for him to be out, but exams are a short three days away and Johnny’s doing the last minute revision he needs to feel ready for them.

He slows down outside a 7-11, picking the board up so that he doesn’t get any dirty looks, and shivers as the air-conditioning brushes over his skin. There’s nothing to eat in his apartment, so he might as well buy something to microwave for dinner so he can pretend that he’s being healthy. He might, _might,_ also buy some snacks so that he can relax in front of a movie for the next hour or so.

He’s picking out the noodles that he’s going to cook, when the door slides open again and someone shuffles over to the coffee machine.

It’s a boy about his age with ripped jeans and oversized hoodie covering most of his body, glasses sliding off his nose as he wanders past Johnny. Johnny doesn’t pay much attention until he catches the flash of reddish hair and he stares.

Taeyong has shoved one of the cheap paper cups under the spout of the coffee machine and he’s staring blankly at it as it fills with dark, dirt water. Johnny watches, silent, as Taeyong shoves the lid on the container and pays the cashier two dollars before shuffling out of the store again. He quickly pays for the noodles and chips that he grabs at random, before following Taeyong out of the store.

He can’t help it, the horror that rises as Taeyong tips his head back and just gulps down the entire cup straight before tossing the rubbish in the bin near the door.

‘You fill our speciality roast with sugar and fucking _raspberry syrup_ , and you drink this swill straight?’ Johnny can’t help biting out.

Taeyong jumps. He turns to look at Johnny and he looks terrified.

‘I,’ he stutters, running a hand through his hair (which is unstyled and flopping into his eyes, Johnny can’t deal with this). ‘I needed coffee today.’

‘Then why didn’t you come by the café and get some earlier?’ Johnny can’t help the slight pout because, sure, even if Taeyong doesn’t like him doesn’t mean that he needs to go for shit coffee.

‘I mean, I _spilt coffee on you,_ Johnny,’ Taeyong says and his cheeks are turning bright pink. ‘I can’t just waltz back into the café.’

‘Sure you can,’ Johnny argues, ‘we’re nice people, it was an accident.’ Then he realises. ‘Wait, you know my name?’

‘Of course I know your name,’ Taeyong says, shifting his weight between his feet. ‘I bought coffee from you every weekday for _a month_.’

‘You never even acknowledged me,’ Johnny splutters, and he runs his fingers through his hair because he is _so confused_ right now.

Taeyong blushes again and he turns his head down to look at the floor. Johnny falters, because Taeyong looks nothing like the hard lines and the tense shoulders of the few weeks that he got used to seeing him around. Johnny doesn’t know if it’s the jumper and the glasses, or the two weeks since he’s seen the boy, or the fact this could be the last time he talks to Taeyong. But he feels brave.

‘Taeyong,’ Johnny starts and he can’t help the small smile that works across his face. ‘You don’t hate me, do you?’

‘No, I don’t,’ Taeyong mutters and he looks up at Johnny again. ‘I’m sorry you thought I did.’

He looks awkward and gentle, and a voice at the back of Johnny’s head whispers that this just adding to the mystery of a boy who is smart and pretty. Johnny’s feeling braver, in the cool night, when he looks at this Taeyong. It’s just another layer to the untouchable boy that Johnny got used to seeing, and now he can’t help wondering what more there is to Taeyong.

‘What are you doing right now?’

‘I ... have to study,’ Taeyong points uselessly to the direction of the library and Johnny raises an eyebrow.

‘If your studying is anything similar to what it’s like inside the café, I’m sure you’ll be fine,’ Johnny says, and he reaches out to take one of Taeyong’s hands. ‘I’m about to watch a movie at my place, unwind a bit after studying. Would you like to join me?’

Taeyong hesitates, just for a moment, and then he smiles at Johnny. It’s as beautiful as Johnny thought it would be.

‘Sure.’

 

**Author's Note:**

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